Iain Mackenzie kicked his horse’s flanks and trotted ahead. He peered over his shoulder and said, “By God, loving a woman is never easy.”
Chapter Twenty
Graeme was beside himself. His comrade was in danger and in his haste to find Liam, he put himself at risk for the king’s army arrived. As he searched the grounds, he had to keep himself hidden for the king walked around and surveyed the keep. He tried to find James to gain his aid in locating Liam, but the man was nowhere to be found. Before he could locate James, the king and a hoard of men entered the gate. Graeme couldn’t jeopardize his capture or being noticed by Robert, so he hung back and kept watch from the nearby woods.
He paced amongst the trees, hoping to spot Liam abscond from the castle. An hour or more went by and still he did not come. He didn’t see anyone he knew or anyone he could ask about the happenings inside or if they saw Liam. Despair set in and he was in a frantic state to find his friend. He never should have allowed Liam to go inside without him.
“Where the hell are you, Liam?” he said aloud. Graeme decided to sneak inside the walls. He had no choice and couldn’t wait any longer. When he reached the wall, he rushed through the gate and slunk low near the closest building. There he stood and watched the soldiers bring forth the Englishmen they’d found within the castle. He watched as Robert walked along the row of men, signaling to his followers to cut them down.
Robert’s face looked ashen. Graeme hoped he wasn’t ill or had a malady, but he didn’t look well. His face staid, but the situation would call for his aloof manner. The king motioned more soldiers into the keep and they ran forth with their swords drawn. The retaking of Bothwell would be his before the end of the day.
Two soldiers pulled a man by his arms and dropped him by Robert’s feet. The king turned and his eyes widened. Graeme flinched when he saw the condition of his friend.
“Kincaid. Where did you find him?” he asked the soldiers.
One of the men stepped forward. “We found him in the upper solar, sire. He must’ve killed the Englishman we found with him for he’d been struck through. It were a bloody scene.”
Liam groaned.
Graeme recoiled for Liam could barely stand on his own. Robert knew who he was and he’d be hard-pressed to set an example by him. They’d purposely disobeyed the command to stay on the isle by their king. Even though they left the isle with the sole hope to protect Robert, he wouldn’t know the lengths they’d gone through to secure his safety. He would likely call for Liam’s execution.
“Bring him to his feet.”
Graeme moved closer so he might discern their discussion. Several men stood in front of him and blocked the king’s view of him. He held still in anticipation of the worst.
“Kincaid, are you not supposed to be exiled? I distinctly recall commanding you to stay on the isle, and yet here you are.”
Liam shook his head and seemed to be in a stupor. Graeme was helpless and could offer no assistance. He fisted his hands and then ran them through his hair as frustration at the situation rifled him inept.
Robert raised Liam’s chin with the butt of his sword. “Answer the question.”
“Aye, sire.”
“You defied me.”
“Aye, sire.”
“You admit this freely?”
“Aye, sire.”
Robert scowled and stepped away, then turned and faced Liam again. “Did you and the others become mercenaries and call yourselves the king’s guard?”
Liam tilted his head back and said, “Aye, sire.”
A rush of mutters arose from the soldiers who stood around them.
“Have this man taken to Stirling. I will come when I can to question him.” Robert was about to walk away when one of the soldiers stopped him.
“Is he to be imprisoned, sire?”
“He is.”
“Should he be given food and care?”
Robert rubbed his face before answering, “I care not. I will question him when I have time to see to the matter. Instruct that he not be killed for there are answers I wish to seek before he meets his end.”
Two soldiers carried Liam off.
Graeme fell back into the crowd, disheartened at the fate of his comrade. He needed to find James.
Chapter Twenty-One
The muddle of his head didn’t subside until he reached the gallows inside Stirling Castle. Liam tried to recall what he’d said to the king, but it all muffled. He remembered the king questioning him. Yet all he could do was search amongst the courtyard for Makenna. He hoped she made it safely to her uncle.
The king’s soldiers took him away before he could ensure Makenna was safe and well. As his head cleared of the funk, he thought about her dismay when he took her sword away. His wife was angry but more than that, she appeared dispirited. He alone caused her heartbreak. Liam hadn’t meant to speak to her with such ire, but he had to get her to leave the chamber. He didn’t want her to see how infuriated he was and what he’d do to her adversary.
Liam stood inside the small stall, pacing the tiny confines. He assessed a way to escape, but there was nothing but heavy stone surrounding him. The lone door had bars on a small window and he could see nothing beyond but a wall.
He checked his boot and found the daggers he’d hid. The king’s soldiers hadn’t checked him. The dagger at his waist was gone, but then he remembered using it on Hawksberry. His most prized dagger, the one he kept in the scabbard on his chest was gone, but he wasn’t sure how he’d lost it or if it was taken. The fine sword he’d paid handsomely was gone, likely still in the solar at Bothwell. Damnation, it was a good sword too. At least he still had two fine daggers to use if need be.
After a good amount of time passed, time unknown to him, the door opened. A young lad entered and set a trencher of bread on the floor. Before he could turn away, Liam stopped him.
“Wait, lad. I need a favor.” He peered out the doorway and saw two soldiers standing beyond in discussion. They paid the lad no heed. Liam motioned to the lad to move within the cell.
The young lad flipped the dark locks on his forehead and took two steps forward. “Shhh, m’lord, I’m to give you this.” He handed him a flask. “Me name’s Oliver. James Douglas sent me. He wanted to relay that he is devising a plan to rescue you and that you should sit tight.”
Liam laughed. “Aye? It’s not as if I can just walk out of here. Convey my thanks to him and tell him to hurry.”
Oliver grinned. “Will do, m’lord. What favor did you seek?”
Liam removed the leather rope holding the medallion around his neck. He handed it to the lad. “Get this to the friar at Sweetheart Abbey. And take this,” he said and pulled a dagger free from his boot, “as recompense.”
“Of course, m’lord, anything for one of the king’s guard. Now, be warned, the king’s men want to question you before he arrives. I heard them speaking of disobeying the king and torturing you for information.”
Confused by this, Liam pondered it a moment. “Why would they want answers from me?”
Oliver lowered his gaze. “The king placed a high price on your comrade’s heads and the rebels want to collect the reward. They think to question you for their whereabouts.”
Liam cursed. The situation grew dire. Many would be out to capture his comrades, especially if there was a reward posted. “Tell James to hightail his arse and get here at the soonest. You’ve my thanks, Oliver.”
“I shall relay your message to the Douglas, m’lord. I will try to come back or have the Douglas send another with more food and drink.”
The lad left him and Liam snatched the bread and ate every single morsel. Not only was he hungry, but he needed his strength. He drank down the ale in the flask and continued to pace.
Time whittled by with nail grating slowness and with nothing but his thoughts to occupy him, Liam could think of nothing but Makenna. If he made it out of the wretched place, he’d go to her and beg her forgiveness. He knew he’d disappointed her
and all he hoped was to win her heart. How much she’d changed him. Liam never suspected love caused such a range of emotions, emotions he was apt to admit now. When he thought of her or envisioned her bonny face, he grew happy and downright cheerful even now inside the murky, death-permeated dungeons of Stirling.
The woman maddened him to a state, and it was a mirthful madness. He understood what love was–the complete surrender of one’s heart and mind to another. Even in his dire situation, which surely would eventually lead to his execution, he found himself envisioning her bonny face.
Liam had never loved Blayre to a minute degree. Perhaps he’d been infatuated with her at one time, but he certainly could live without her. He’d proved that when his uncle sent him in service to the Bruce. Nary a fortnight had gone by and he no longer thought of her.
He could not and would not live without Makenna.
Liam wasn’t sure how many days passed. Thankfully the king’s followers didn’t come to question him. Shouts came from the corridor and the door to Liam’s cell banged open.
He stood back and waited. Had they come to subject him to vile forms of torture to find out where his comrades were? He had to steel himself against giving away any information regardless of the pain. Their secrets were at the utmost importance and sworn to be upheld. Neither he nor his comrades would ever divulge their whereabouts, even under the most torturous of circumstances.
Two guards entered and tied his arms behind his back. Likewise his feet were bound. He couldn’t move. His secrets would remain in the far recesses of his mind and no matter what they did to him, he wasn’t about to cross his brethren.
Just as he was about to relay that to the two burly guards, Robert himself strolled into the cell. He took hold of his cloak and flung it from his shoulders. The look on his face showed abhorrence. He wasn’t pleased to be there, but then neither was Liam.
“Leave.”
The one-word command forced the guard to flee the chamber. King Robert stood silent for a few seconds. Liam wouldn’t speak unless he had to.
“Liam, it pains me to be here. I hoped you and the other guardsmen would obey my command. I purposely left you on the isle to protect you. If King Edward found and questioned you, you would have had no choice but to give him the answers he sought. Those answers would have caused my execution. Now you give me no choice but to call for your execution.”
“You could forgive me, my lord, forgive us. We only did what we thought was right.”
“You deem going against your lord and commander is right? You were all given in service to me and the minute my back is turned, you go against me.”
“We never plotted against you, sire. You left us on that isle to die. At least we were able to return and do some good before our deaths.”
“What good do you speak of?”
Liam wouldn’t tell of their doings. He and his comrades swore not to disclose their actions, especially to the king. There was less than a handful of people who knew they aided the king: James, Friar Hemm, and Rohan in the village. It was best Robert not know how they protected him. Such a thing would only suggest that they had no confidence in his ability to see to his own arse. Indeed, the king did not. Not with his passionate nature and foolhardy notions.
“You refuse to answer?”
Liam tilted his chin low. He detested going against Robert’s wishes. “I cannot not say.”
“Where are your brethren? Tell me where they hide.”
Silence. Liam kept his mouth closed which infuriated Robert further. The king’s face brightened and he realized his jeopardy.
Robert ambled around him and when he reached the front of him, he set a hand on his shoulder. “Liam, I want to forgive you. But my land is filled with those who deem they can gainsay me and get away with it. How can I rule with such discord? I cannot have it known that I allowed you or any of my men to openly defy me. You must be punished.”
“I realize that, sire.”
“And ye still won’t tell me where the others hide?”
“Nay, I cannot. I am loyal to them.”
Robert squeezed his shoulder. “You should be loyal to me.”
“I am, sire, as well as the others. We put Scotland and you first, always.”
“You give me no choice, Liam.” Robert gripped his tunic and shook him. His anger rising. “I don’t want to have you killed. Tell me where the others are and I shall consider giving you a quick merciful death.”
“A quick merciful death is not enough to sway me to go against my brothers.”
“Then you shall die within a fortnight.”
“So be it, sire.”
“You won’t change your mind?”
“I will not.”
“Liam, you and the others stood by my side on one of the most horrible nights of my life. That day … at Greyfriars repeats in my mind daily. I don’t know what I would’ve done without you, Graeme, Brodin, and Heath. Yet my hand is forced. If you tell me where they hide, mayhap I can have you sent back to the isle. Will ye not listen to reason?”
“If my days are numbered, sire, then I shall pray that Scotland is recovered by you and you rule graciously for many years to come.”
“Always the honorable one? Cease, Liam, with the gallant speech. I shall return in a fortnight and see if you come to good sense. If not, you will be executed at first light.”
“I will await your return, sire.” He gave a half-hearted bow.
Robert threw up his hands and growled a guttural sound and exited the cell.
The door slammed closed and Liam tried to calm his racing heart. To go against one’s king was definitely taxing. He trudged/hopped to the wall and slouched down. With his hands behind his back, he tried to dislodge the bindings, but they wouldn’t budge. During the night, he heard the exodus of the king’s followers by the sound of the thundering hooves and marching feet. Cheers arose from the king’s soldiers as they set out probably to their next fray.
It took little time for the guard to come. They didn’t come to unbind him, quite the opposite. They forced him from the cell and practically dragged him to the end of the hallway.
A door opened to a ghastly chamber where dark objects meant to inflict their worst injury and death, took up most of the space. A creaking came from the iron that held a wooden cage from the high rafter. Iron gates and instruments scattered the horrible abode.
Liam resisted when they lifted him and tossed his body onto a crude, blood-stained table. He was bound to the rough wood and told to be still.
A gruesome man wearing a leather hood appeared. He lifted a scythe and used it to tear at his tunic. The fabric tore away and his chest rose and fell with angst. Liam tried to quiet his breath and didn’t want to appear to be affected by the hideous tormentor.
“Ye wouldn’t answer our fair and just king. Mayhap you will have answers for me.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Days passed and still Makenna couldn’t get used to being back at the Mackenzie keep. Roberta cried for nearly a whole day when she arrived. Makenna’s tears had dried up because she’d used them all on Liam.
The afternoon sun began its descent and sent a glorious pinkish glow through the sky. Puffy clouds shimmered with the essence. She gazed up at the expanse knowing her love was beneath the same sky. Was he looking at it as she was? She couldn’t see Liam being awed by such beauty.
Makenna sat atop the hill, the very same one she’d sat on all those months ago when her family was attacked. She was content to watch the day end, but saddened at the thought that it was another without Liam. Which brought to mind the fact that she couldn’t stay on Mackenzie land much longer. For one thing, she no longer felt Kinross was home without her parents. For another, her uncle wouldn’t cease hounding her about returning to her husband and her duty.
On her first day home, she asked Nicholas, the master of the hunt’s son, to take a message to Liam. All she did was give him the medallion that Brodin made for her. It was all the message sh
e needed to send. Once Liam received it, he would surely come for her.
Unbeknownst to her uncle, Makenna accepted her err in judgment. Now that a week passed, she wondered what took him so long to show up. Mayhap he was content without her.
“I knew I would find you here.”
She turned at her sister’s voice. “I wanted to be alone. There are too many people in the keep these days.”
“You do know why they are here?”
“No, why?”
“Uncle Iain doesn’t trust you. He thinks you will sneak away as soon as his back is turned. They’re to keep an eye on you, but I see they have failed.” Roberta chuckled. “How much like me you have become. I recall you chastising me for my behavior when we were younger.”
“I’m sorry, Roberta, not for scolding you, but for leaving when …”
Her sister sat beside her and set an arm around her shoulder. “You need not apologize again.”
“But I feel I must. I shouldn’t have left without checking … to see if you were …”
“Dead. I understand.” She patted her hand. “If it was me, Makenna, I probably would’ve fled as well. It was a horrible situation …”
“I heard you screaming and I’m ashamed to admit I covered my ears. And then suddenly you stopped. I couldn’t reason anything but that they’d killed you. I didn’t consider you could endure such torture.”
Roberta caressed her shoulder. “I realized the only way I would survive was to give them what they wanted. As soon as I calmed, they became almost gentle.”
Makenna lowered her eyes. “Are you well? They didn’t hurt you.”
“They certainly tried, but didn’t succeed. I am as well as can be. I am fortunate I have an understanding husband, for he has been nothing but supportive. He wanted to go after those men, but I made him promise not to … that horrid ordeal was over and behind me. I didn’t wish him to leave me.”
Unbreakable Heart (Legend of the King's Guard Book 2) Page 21